The last general election took place in 2010, yet only 44% of 18-24 year olds in the UK voted. This would suggest that the youth who already have the right to vote have not exercised it in the majority. Therefore, would lowering the legal age to vote have had a large effect on the general election this year or in the future?

Now, it’s not just numbers that would play an important part in any potential decision to give youngsters the vote, it is also the way in which they’d use it. Most of the youth today aren’t necessarily highly interested in national politics but they’re also not educated in it.

The general opinion in the local community is that if given the vote, the youth would either follow their parents’ choices or be easily led by propaganda.

It would be interesting to see if and how parties would change their campaigns to include the youth. Would they target the youth as a large part of expected voter turnout or would they assume the youth simply wouldn’t take an interest?

Some say the time that the educated youth have to wait until their right to vote is in place is long enough to give them time to consider their choices, do research and read manifestos.

However, I’m aware of a large number of teenagers aged between 16 and 18 – not old enough to vote – who are very aware of current affairs and politics.

Most people my age at my sixth form – The Bulmershe School, Woodley – have opinions on the way the country is being run currently and how the UK and its people may benefit from certain changes.

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Should young people have the vote at 16?

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Therefore I’m sure they would have a decent contribution to make without being manipulated by propaganda. Then again, this is only a select few because, personally, I can’t see most of my generation taking a great interest in elections. I believe this is mostly because it doesn’t affect them directly. Without branding my generation self-centred, no one is going to take a large amount of time away from revision and youth culture just to take part in one event that has no real influence on them.

One general opinion is that the youth may just vote selfishly rather than for the greater good if given the right to do so. For example, they might think that one party’s aims to reduce the cost of driving insurance for under-25s is a lot better than more pressing issues such as financial stability to avoid another damaging recession.

What do you think? Should under-18s be given the right to vote? Let us know in the comments below